awareness

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On the eve of Anti-Tobacco Day, International reputed young Sand artist Sri Manas Kumar Sahoo has created a sand sculpture on the golden sea beach, near light house of Puri at the distance of 65 KM from Bhubaneswar the capital of Odisha. On May 31st every year, the world observes World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) that is promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO). The objective of observing World No Tobacco Day is to reduce tobacco consumption which can lead to deadly diseases like cancer and early death. It is a day to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption across the globe and to draw attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to the negative health effects.

World No Tobacco Day primarily focuses on encouraging users to refrain from tobacco consumption and its related products for a period of at least 24 hours. World No Tobacco Day was first observed in 1987, after a cabinet of the WHA (World Health Assembly) passed a motion supported by the WHO, with guidelines to manage and curb tobacco consumption. No Tobacco Day also aims to keep a watch on companies that sell cigarettes and other tobacco products through striking advertisements which influence people to consume their product. To propel its cause and appeal globally, in this year the theme of World No Tobacco Day 2014 was “Raise taxes on tobacco”.

The message behind this sand sculpture is that with each puff of tobacco/cigarette carries a small death and reduces one’s life span each time he/she smokes. Today’s young men start it as fun but falls into the trap. The sand sculpture is of 12 feet high made with 20 tons of sand, with a hard labor of nearly 20 hours and with a message “Be smart. Don’t start“.